Wind resistance of downward movable scaffolding system in strong wind environment

Abstract:

To clarify the safety performance of downward movable scaffolding systems (MSSs) in strong wind environment, this paper takes a downward mobile scaffolding system with span of 50 m (MSS50) in the southeast coastal area as the research object to systematically investigate its flutter, vortex, and buffeting performance by aero-elastic model wind tunnel test and numerical calculation. Results show that vertical displacement and torsion angle were critical factors of MSS in fixing and moving conditions respectively. In the fixing condition, MSS50 could meet the operation requirements of 8-level strong wind (20.7 m/s) and resist 14-level wind (46.1 m/s). In the moving condition, the main structure could meet the operation requirements of 8-level strong wind in the case of proper measures. The multi-modal coupling frequency domain buffeting calculation method and the equivalent static gust wind load method in Wind-resistant Design Specification for Highway Bridges could be used to calculate the buffeting response of MSS with acceptable accuracy. The multi-modal coupling frequency domain buffeting calculation method has higher accuracy than the equivalent static gust wind load method and is recommended to calculate the buffeting response of MSS.